The present invention relates to playyards in which small children can be placed, and particularly to a system for mounting a playyard canopy to the top of a playyard frame to cover the playyard. More particularly, the present invention relates to a corner support associated with a playyard, the corner support receiving and supporting a canopy support rod.
Playyards in which small children can be placed are well known. Playyards are typically configured as cubicles having a floor panel and side panels extending upwardly therefrom to confine the child within the playyard so that the child is prevented from wandering away from the playyard. Some conventional playyards are collapsible allowing the playyard to be folded from an opened playyard configuration to a collapsed compact storage configuration. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,279,006 to Teng and U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,437 to Dillner et al.
Playyards usually have open tops so that a person attending to the child can place the child into and remove the child from the playyard easily. In addition, the side panels of conventional playyards are usually somewhat transparent so that the person attending to the child can see into the playyard to observe the activities of the child and so that the child can see out of the playyard to observe the surrounding environment. When a playyard is exposed to direct sunlight, the open top permits the sunlight to shine into the playyard potentially making the child contained in the playyard uncomfortable. The open top of the playyard also permits other objects to enter the playyard.
Playyard covers that can be attached to the playyard to cover the open top of the playyard are known. See, for example, U.S. application Ser. No. 08/940,909, filed Sep. 30, 1997 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,681,659; 4,790,340; 5,862,548; 5,099,866; 2,958,084; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 370,149; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 404,216; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 390,730; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 367,788; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 366,978 and the HAPPY CABANA(trademark) Play Yard disclosed in the Evenflo 1995 Baby Products Catalog at page 12, which disclosures are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
A playyard in accordance with the present invention includes a retainer carried on a canopy frame support rod and configured to be coupled to a retainer mount carried on a playyard frame so that a canopy cover attached to the canopy frame support rod is retained in place on the playyard. In preferred embodiments, the retainer mount is included in a playyard frame corner piece and sloped from a low point in an interior corner of the corner piece to a high point along a leading edge of the retainer mount. The retainer includes a retainer tip formed to include a bore receiving an outer end of the canopy frame support rod snugly therein and a resilient retainer clasp coupled to the underside of the cylindrical body to form a channel therebetween sized to receive and grip a portion of the retainer mount therein to xe2x80x9canchorxe2x80x9d the retainer to the retainer mount.
Additional features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.